The Eastern Voice Correspondent

Hazaribagh. A confrontation took place early between the police and active members of the Rahul Dubey gang in the Pagar OP area, under the jurisdiction of Keredari Police Station in Hazaribagh district. During the incident, the police arrested two active members of the gang. In the ensuing exchange of fire, one of the accused was shot in the right leg and was immediately sent to Barkagaon Hospital for treatment under police custody. A country-made pistol, three mobile phones and an Apache motorcycle were recovered from the accused.
The Superintendent of Police had received information on the night of July 23–24 that two unidentified criminals on an Apache motorcycle were roaming the transport route of the Chandragupta Coal Mining Project and the vicinity of the Bukru-Pachra road barrier in the Keredari Police Station (Pagar OP) area; they were distributing pamphlets in the name of the Rahul Dubey gang and had fled towards the forest. Acting on this information, a special raid team was constituted under the leadership of Amit Anand, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Barkagaon. Police personnel from Keredari Police Station and Pagar OP, accompanied by an armed force, set out to cordon off the forest near Bukru village.
The police team spotted two suspects approaching on an Apache motorcycle near the Bukru village forest. Upon seeing the police vehicle, both individuals attempted to flee towards the forest. During the pursuit, the motorcycle lost its balance and fell and both accused tried to run into the woods. At that moment, one of the accused fired three consecutive rounds at the police team.
The police initially warned the accused to drop their weapons and surrender, but the criminals opened fire on the police again. In self-defense, the police fired three rounds in retaliation; one bullet struck the right leg of the accused who was firing. He immediately collapsed on the spot and the weapon he was holding fell to the ground. The police force chased down and apprehended the second accused. During interrogation, the injured accused identified himself as Md. Ragib Afzal, a resident of Chepakhurd, while the second accused identified himself as Jitendra Soni, a resident of Chattibariyat. Both admitted to being active members of the Rahul Dubey gang. They stated that they had opened fire in the transportation area and left a pamphlet in the name of the Rahul Dubey gang to intimidate and spread terror among the staff of Chandragupta Company, as the company had failed to pay the demanded levy.
The operation involved Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Amit Anand, Police Inspector Shahid Raza, Keredari Station In-charge Ved Prakash Pandey, Pagar OP In-charge Dinesh Mandal, police officers from Keredari Police Station, the armed force of Pagar OP, and the Technical and Organized Crime Branch team.